Piko Brought This on Himself
by Karen1121
Summary: After living with robots for most of his life, Ausgris comes home to find a new visitor at his door. Where did she come from? And how much trouble could one girl get into?


**A Quick Explanation:**

 **All of my writing is heavily influenced by my headcanons, and this work is no exception. Therefore, I think a brief explanation is necessary.**

 **First off, if you're wondering who Ausgris is, they're a potential Vocaloid currently being produced by VocaTone! Be sure to check out their beta demo!**

 **As for headcanons, I know that Ausgris is agender, but I headcanon them as male and will be using male pronouns in this story. I also headcanon Ausgris is mute because their voice bank is currently unreleased. Their prosthetics are canon.**

 **I headcanon Piko is a robot built by Ausgris to keep them company, and that Defoko is a robot Ausgris rescued and rebuilt from a junkyard.**

 **Okay, that should be all you need to know to understand what's going on. I hope you enjoy~**.

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Ausgris's boots crunched onto the pavement as he dismounted his motorcycle. He grabbed his gear and locked the bike up quickly, eager to escape the soft drizzle that had soaked him through on his ride home.

As he entered the small apartment, he threw off his bulky coat and boots in an effort to warm himself. He flicked on a few light-switches and tugged on a thin string secured next to the switches, which ran up the wall and parallel to the ceiling, finally disappearing under a doorway. Connected to the other side of the string was a small bell, which promptly began to ring behind the door with a shrill twinkling.

A few cats lounging on the furniture looked up at the sound, but they quickly went back to dozing when they saw who called.

Ausgris waited for Piko's usual greeting. After a minute, it still didn't come. The apartment was strangely quiet with no sign of either Piko or Defoko.

Ausgris crossed the room and knocked lightly on his and Piko's door, but there was still no answer.

That's unlike him, he mused. Defoko often went out picking flowers or wandering through town during the afternoons, so Ausgris wasn't surprised to not hear from her. He did hope she wasn't caught in the rain, though. But unlike the curious Defoko, Piko was almost always home and waiting for Ausgris's return.

He knocked on the door again, this time a little louder. Still no response. He tested the handle—it was unlocked. He opened the door slowly and peered in, but only the sparse furniture presented itself.

He shut the door and scratched his head. Down the hall, a tumbling crash sounded from behind the door to his workshop. Several indistinct shouts erupted, followed by another crash.

Ausgris's head whipped around. What in the world—? He grabbed the handle and wrenched the door open.

Two robots turned to face him and froze. Defoko let out a small squeak and covered her mouth. Piko looked ready to burst into a sweat if that were possible, but he merely shoved something behind his back and gave a big, nervous smile. "Au-Auggie! You're home earlier than we expected."

 _Half day_ , Ausgris signed in response. _What are you guys doing in here?_

"Us? Nothing," Piko lied.

"We're just, um, doing repairs," Defoko piped up timidly. "My arm's been malfunctioning again."

Ausgris smirked in disbelief. _Really?_ _Can I see?_

He took a step forward, but Defoko put her hands out to stop him. "No, no—it's fine now!" she sputtered. "Piko just finished fixing it for me. I'm good."

Ausgris narrowed his eyes and took another step forward. Defoko stepped out to meet him, her hands still raised to prevent him going any further. "Really, we're fine. We were just leaving."

Before Ausgris could react, she grabbed his left hand and started dragging him towards the door. "I, uh, just remembered there were some new wildflowers behind the house! You should come see them with me."

Ausgris tried to free his hand, but her grip was unnaturally strong. He stumbled after her and glanced back at Piko, who simply waved with a smug smile. _Not finished!_ Ausgris tried to sign to him with one hand.

"Finished with what?" Piko laughed innocently. Ausgris nearly got whiplash as Defoko yanked him through the door and out the back of their apartment.

She released his hand at last, but not before blocking the door. "See?" she pointed at the grass that grew beyond the small porch area. Small, yellow flowers dotted the field like patchwork stitches and ran in a ribbon of gold through the grass.

Ausgris rubbed his wrist and followed her gaze. He had to admit, it was a beautiful view. But this was obviously a distraction, and his curiosity was too demanding to keep him from straying for too long. _They're lovely,_ he replied. _But I'm going back inside._

Defoko glanced back towards the workshop, wringing her hands. She hesitated a moment. She let out mechanical hiss that was probably supposed to be a sigh. Defoko finally relented and stepped away from the door. Ausgris pushed past her and ran back to the workshop, but, as he had feared, it was abandoned. Neither Piko nor whatever they had apparently been hiding were anywhere to be found. It was as though they'd never entered the room.

Ausgris huffed and looked around the room—nothing looked out of place, save for a few scraps of metal strewn on the floor that must've been from the crash earlier. He opened a few drawers and cabinets but didn't find anything out of the ordinary. With a sigh, he plopped down on his workbench. What could those two be hiding?

* * *

 _THUNK_. Ausgris's eyes snapped open. What in the world—?

He rolled over and groped around on the bedside table for his glasses. After shoving them on his face, he turned on a small lamp and rubbed his eyes. The small clock on the table read 5:26 AM. Curse those robots and their absurd waking hours.

He fell back onto the pillows and groaned, hoping it was only Defoko being a bit clumsy. Just as he closed his eyes, however, another raucous _thunk_ assaulted his ears. He smushed a pillow on his face. Even that wasn't enough to drown out yet another crash, which sounded like the entire workshop were turned on end.

That's it! He threw the covers aside and sat up, adjusting his glasses. They knew better! They may not need to sleep through the night, but he sure did! He reached over and ripped the charging cable from his prosthetic arm, which sat on the floor beside his bed. He locked the arm smoothly in place on his shoulder with a small click and opened a narrow control panel. When he flipped the activation switch, his arm sprang to life with its usual tingling sensation.

After doing the same for both of his legs, he stood and threw open the door. They would answer for making him get only three hours of sleep!

The crashes had sounded like they came from the other side of the wall, which would place them in his workshop. Sure enough, as he crossed the hall, he found the door shut with a faint glow seeping underneath. He tugged the handle, but it refused to budge. Locked out of his own room? What could they possibly be doing?

Ausgris curled his hands into fists and pounded on the door. Don't make me get the key, he growled silently. A few muffled voices shot back and forth, but something was off. There seemed to be three of them talking at once; one voice he didn't recognize. The strange voice grew louder, and he heard footsteps approach. More shouts sounded, but suddenly the handle rattled.

The door thrust open, and Ausgris found himself staring into the eyes of a pale, red-haired robot. She was nearly a foot shorter than he, but she jumped up on her tip-toes to narrow the gap. Her bright, amber lenses seemed to flicker with curiosity as she gazed back at him.

"Hello!" she exclaimed. He was struck dumb with shock. "Who are you?"

Behind her, Piko looked ready to blow a fuse. He stormed over and grabbed her arm, dragging the strange robot away from the door. She uttered an offended cry and struggled against his grasp, but her movements were awkward and ineffective. Piko pushed her into the arms of Defoko, who held the girl back in her powerful grip. Defoko looked flustered and slightly… ashamed, not daring to look up.

"Auggie!" Piko grinned weakly and turned to face the intruder in the doorway. He leaned casually against Ausgris's workbench, as though the entire scene hadn't just happened. Beside him, one of the shelves had been knocked to the ground, its contents spilled out on the floor like piñata guts. Ausgris winced and silently prayed nothing had been broken. "You're up early!" Piko glanced over at a nearby clock on the wall. "…Really early."

 _You woke me up_ , Ausgris snarled. _Who's this?_

"N-no one!" Defoko cried timidly. "She's, uh—she's—"

"No one impor—" Piko began.

"I'm Miki!" the little robot volunteered, grinning widely. She still struggled somewhat against Defoko's hold, but her attempts were even less effective than before. The way she moved was quite peculiar—her limbs flailed in jerky patterns, as though she were a living marionette doll. Even her limbs themselves were slightly deformed and warped at odd angles. Parts of her exterior plating were missing, leaving the circuits and tangled wires exposed. She looked in dire need of a good tune-up. "You still haven't answered my question," she pouted. "Who are you?"

 _Any chance you speak sign language?_ Ausgris responded.

She tried to cock her head, but it looked more like she dislocated her neck. "What're you doing with your hands?"

Welp, that was a no. "That's Ausgris," Defoko answered for him. "He can't talk. He uses his hands to talk." With a wary glance, she very slowly unlatched her fingers from Miki's arm. The little robot did a giddy dance and skipped over to Ausgris.

"Whoa, that's weird!" Miki gaped. "Why can't he talk?" She looked Ausgris up and down, examining him as if he were a curio in a museum. He shifted uncomfortably, but he let her approach. It was just curiosity, after all.

"Long story," Piko cut her off.

"What is he?" Miki asked as if Ausgris wasn't listening.

"What?"

"He looks funny. His face is all, like, squishy."

Ausgris couldn't help but laugh a little—she certainly was a funny little bot. _Has she ever seen a human before?_

"What'd he say?" Miki blurted.

Piko sighed. "Don't worry about it."

He and Defoko exchanged amused glances _. No, I guess not_ , Defoko answered Ausgris with a chuckle. "Ausgris's human, Miki. He's not a robot like us."

"What's a human?"

"They're, um, like robots but… squishy. And they sleep more."

 _Like I was trying to do,_ Ausgris reminded her not-so-subtly.

"Sorry," Defoko mumbled, gazing at her feet again.

Ausgris waved it away and turned to Piko. _Where'd she come from?_ If she was a rescue like Defoko, why hadn't he just said something? She obviously needed repairs, and Ausgris had had years of maintaining Piko for practice.

"Seriously, what's he saying?" Miki huffed, stamping her foot.

The others ignored her. "She, uh—" Defoko looked down at her feet.

 _She was supposed to be a surprise,_ Piko admitted.

Ausgris's brow furrowed. _Huh?_

"Oh, now that's just not fair," Miki whined. "Now you're both doing it!"

Piko rolled his eyes. He simulated taking a deep breath and signed, _We built her._

 _For your birthday,_ Defoko added, her gaze still glued to her shoes. His birthday wasn't for a few more weeks—that would've been quite a secret to keep.

Ausgris inhaled deeply and clutched his chest, his eyes wide. _You…what?_

"She's not finished, obviously—" Piko sputtered, rubbing the back of his neck. "We wanted to surprise you and see if we could build something ourselves. We thought it might be fun," he glanced over at Miki, who returned a beaming smile, "but ever since we tried activating her the other day she's been nothing but trouble."

"Trouble?" she repeated, puffing out her chest. "I'm not trouble! They just won't let me touch anything or go anywhere! It gets boring!"

"We don't let you touch anything cuz you break everything you touch!" Piko retorted, waving his hands at the mess scattered around them.

"And whose fault is that?" she shot back. "You programmed me!"

Ausgris laughed, watching her with a mixture of awe and amusement. Though she was obviously far from finished, he couldn't believe the progress they'd made alone. _You guys really built her yourselves?_ he marveled. _How long did that take?_

"We've been working on her for months while you're at school and sleeping and stuff," Piko replied. "It was easier to keep it a secret when she didn't move."

 _Only a few months?_

"Well, it did help you kept all your old blueprints for Piko," Defoko chimed in.

"Yeah," Piko shrugged. "Looking at those was… weird. But you'd done most of the work for us with them."

 _Gee, those must be really old,_ Ausgris chuckled. _She's still amazing!_

"I think you mean obnoxious," Piko returned in his typical manner.

Miki huffed with indignation, but Ausgris couldn't help but start laughing again. That Piko and Defoko had managed to invent their own aggravating bot gave him immense pleasure—perhaps a bit of payback for Piko's snarky disposition?

"Did you say you were sleeping?" Miki suddenly remembered. She seemed to have forgotten Piko's insult in an instant. Keeping up with her was gonna be quite a challenge!

Fatigue seemed to drain into Ausgris's body at her words. He rubbed his eyes and nodded; he hated to leave this new friend so soon, but he could practically feel his bed calling to him as he leaned on the door frame.

"Oh, right," Defoko mumbled. "You should rest. Sorry for waking you up."

Ausgris waved her comment away. _Glad I got to see what was making all this racket!_ He pushed off the door frame and turned to leave, but a thought struck him.

He stepped through the doorway and grabbed a spare sheet of paper from his workbench. Miki watched curiously as he scribbled something, peering over his shoulder. It felt like she was breathing down his neck, but that was impossible. "Whatcha doing?"

He turned around and presented the paper to her. _Allow me to properly introduce myself,_ it read. _It's good to finally get to meet you. I'm Ausgris._ He held out his prosthetic arm, offering a handshake.

Miki cocked her head a bit at his hand, but she shrugged it off. She took his hand and gave him the most vigorous handshake he'd ever received, practically buzzing with excitement. Her gleaming smile was so infectious, and Ausgris grinned back. "I'm Miki! Happy early birthday!"

Ausgris glanced up just in time to see Piko and Defoko exchange thrilled glances, though they quickly tried to hide them. All their hard work had certainly payed off. This gift would be a lot of fun!


End file.
